Key Word-Seer
Prophecy
The last seventeen books of the Old Testament look forward to Christ. These prophetic books are divided into two sections: the five Major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and the Minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi).
The prophets all looked forward in anticipation of Christ. Before the seventy-year captivity (the exile), the prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, stressed exhortation.
The prophetic books, written during the captivity, were Lamentations (which looked back in lamentation on the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple), Ezekiel (which looked forward to Israel’s spiritual restoration), and Daniel (which anticipated their political restoration).
After the captivity, three books were written. Haggai exhorted the people to build the temple of the present (under Zerubbabel), and Zechariah urged them to behold the temple of the future (under Christ). While these writers spoke of the nation’s spiritual restoration, Malachi wrote of their moral restoration.
After Malachi, four hundred “silent years” passed before “the fullness of the time had come” (Gal. 4:4) and the next Jewish prophet declared: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). In Christ the anticipation of the Old became the realization of the New. The prophetic expectation became a historical manifestation.
